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NFL Scouting Combine Watch: Josey Jewell

The former Iowa linebacker rose from obscurity to become a household name in college football

Josey Jewell arrived in Iowa City from a turkey farm in Decorah, Iowa, as a two-star recruit with no other FBS offers besides the one he received from the University of Iowa. He'll leave the Hawkeye State as one of the most decorated linebackers in college football history.

Everything you need to know about Jewell as a football player can be seen just by watching a half or so of him playing the game. He's never out of place, he's always near the football and he rarely misses a tackle. He knows how to use angles and the sideline to help him make plays and force ball carriers into tough spots and decisions.

What Jewell brings to the table from a production standpoint is easily visible in his stats. During his senior season, he logged 132 tackles, five sacks, 11 defended passes and two interceptions — and he missed a game.

Jewell is about as complete and polished a linebacker as you are going to find coming out of college. He's an immediate starter in the NFL and a guy who will likely hang onto that role for the better part of a decade.

Translation: Josey Jewell is a sure thing.

Be that as it may, most experts and publications are projecting Jewell to be taken somewhere in the fourth round of the 2018 NFL Draft.

First- and second-rounders are always good football players, but there is usually something different about them athletically that sets them apart from their peers. Jewell never really put on any consistent displays of athleticism during his collegiate career, in part because his technique rarely put him in a spot where he needed to.

It will be interesting to see how he performs at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. If Jewell can turn heads or put up some eye-popping numbers in any of the workouts, it will likely give several franchises a reason to draft him much earlier than where he is currently being projected.

— Written by J.P. Scott, who is part of the Athlon Contributor Network. His work has appeared on SI.com, FoxSports.com, Yahoo!, Bleacher Report and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter @TheJPScott.